It's been 52 days since Nayul was born!! To commemorate the 50th day, I want to record how much Nayul has grown. I was curious about whether Nayul is growing well and how he compares to other babies. So, I started by measuring Nayul's weight. Since there's no baby-specific scale, I picked up Nayul and stepped on a regular scale, then subtracted my weight. After excluding the weight of the diaper and clothes, Nayul weighed 4.7kg! He started at 3.22kg when he was born, so he's grown over 1kg. He's growing well~🥰 Next, I measured his height and head circumference. Since I didn't have specialized measuring tools, I used a regular ruler and an IKEA paper tape measure. (I initially tried using knitting yarn for measurement, but it had too much elasticity, so I switched..😅)
[ Day 52: Nayul's Growth ]
👉 Weight: 4.7kg
👉 Height: 55cm
👉 Head Circumference: 37.5cm
Measurement Calculator
Alright, I've measured my child's growth, but is it enough to just know it? Can I compare it with other children? If you're a parent interested in your child's growth, you've probably thought about it at least once. So today, based on this measurement, I looked into how we can assess our child's growth status. When I searched for "child growth and development," I found a service provided by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey website. When you click on Growth Chart ➡️ Measurement Calculator, a screen like the thumbnail on the right appears.
If you go to the Measurement Calculator tab, it prompts you to enter gender, height, weight, and head circumference. Birthdate and measurement date are also required. Once you've entered all the information, a graph based on the standard values will appear.
Nayul's height, weight, height-to-weight ratio, and head circumference were all located at P50 (median line). Good, good..👍👍
Reliability of Measurement Calculator
Of course, since it's a government-provided site, we can trust the data for comparison. But I was curious about how the data was collected and where the source came from, so I looked into it a bit more. It said that in the past, growth charts were published every 10 years starting from 1967, but in 2017, a new version was reconstructed due to some limitations in the 2007 growth chart standards.
[ 2007 Growth Chart Limitations ]
1. It included both breastfed and formula-fed infants, which posed limitations in using it as a standard for breastfed infants.
2. The height growth chart for children over 2 years old may underestimate those with short stature, and weight and body mass index were based on 2005 data, which might lead to an underestimate of obesity rates.
3. The growth charts and explanations were complex and not user-friendly.
For these reasons, in 2017, growth charts for children and adolescents were established. For children under 3 years old, WHO Growth Standards were applied as a standard for breastfed infants, and for ages 3 to 18, the same data as the 2007 growth chart was used (with adjustments to height growth chart and downward adjustments to obesity screening criteria). After reading this, I briefly thought that it might not be very significant for Nayul, who is formula-fed, but since there was no other data to compare with, I plan to measure and compare periodically.
The WHO MGRS (Multicentre Growth Reference Study) conducted research between 1997 and 2003 to create new growth curves for evaluating the growth and development of children worldwide. They collected primary growth datafrom approximately 8,500 children with diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds. (Target countries: Brazil, Ghana, India, Norway, Oman, USA) These growth curves are expected to provide a single international standard that well describes the physiological growth of all children from birth to age 5, and to establish a standard model for the growth and development of breastfed infants.
Measurement Calculator Provider Site
I learned that the measurement calculator provided by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey site is reliable enough. The calculated results are also not significantly different from those of typical children, so I'm satisfied with that! However, there were two slightly disappointing aspects:
- The graph screen is a bit unclear, and the percentages are not easily visible.
- When I first accessed the site, it was slow, and I thought my internet had disconnected.
So, I looked for other sites just in case. Both of the following sites provide percentiles, but there are slight differences in the percentile values, so it might be good to keep that in mind.
Naver Growth Development Calculator
Since I was writing the blog on a PC, I didn't notice it at first, but when I searched on the mobile screen, I found that Naver also provides a 'Baby Growth Development Calculator'. It was a bit disappointing that it only shows percentiles for height and weight, and doesn't include head circumference. However, it's still useful to have a simple way to remember roughly where our child's percentiles are.
Health Calculator
I found another site that provides a health calculator, and it intuitively provides percentiles, making it more convenient to check. The graph is also presented neatly, so for those who are curious about their child's growth metrics, it might be a good option to measure and input them.
Today, I took a moment to look at Nayul's growth status as a milestone at 50 days. I believe that regularly monitoring and recording growth like this is a meaningful action in parenting. Especially in the case of head circumference, if there are sudden increases or decreases, it's a good idea to visit a pediatrician.
Measurements on May 26, 2023